smiling_sushi Member

I've just recently started lifting as well and had to increase my protein intake. It took some time, but now on a good day I can get at least 130 g protein (I aim for about 140-150 g). My favorite sources of protein include Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, edamame, chicken, turkey, salmon, tilapia, natural peanut butter, eggs…

A quick glance through your diary tells me that your fiber intake is almost always too low. I'm not sure how old you are, but men under 50 should be aiming for 38g of fiber a day and men over 50 should aim for 30g.

The only suggestion I can make is to up your fiber to 25g. That's the suggested daily minimum for women and is necessary when you're aiming for as much protein as you are.

If you have access to a gym with a squat/power rack, then I would suggest Starting Strength. Starting Strength is a book that has a detailed explanation of how to perform each lift and then lays out a lifting program that you can follow. It's a simple program of 5 compound lifts (meaning they work several muscles groups at…

My only dedicated workout is lifting weights 3 times a week (NROL4W) and I need every hour of recovery time I get. If I tried to go running or something on my off days, I'd probably be too tired to increase my weights and/or lift with proper form. And honestly, I know myself well enough to know that I would just wear…

I can tell you what I'm doing, and then you can use that information however you'd like. Currently, I eat between 1800-1900 calories a day, because I am still wanting to lose weight and that is still a deficit (albeit a rather small one) for me. You generally have to eat more calories than you think in order to help you…

The rice cooker I use is great. It's cheap and super easy to use - all you have to do is chuck in the rice, fill to the appropriate line with water, and press the Cook switch. There's a limit on how much rice it can cook (I believe 3 dry cups white/2 dry cups brown), but if you're just cooking for yourself, or yourself and…

This sort of indirectly answers your question, but perhaps you could talk to your doctor/nutritionist about consuming kefir. Apparently, a lot of people with lactose intolerance are able to tolerate it due to the large amount of (beneficial) bacteria in it - much more than you'll generally find in yogurt. It's something to…

For meals, I second skinnytaste.com, and I'll add that LaaLoosh.com has some great recipes as well. I've tried quite a variety of recipes from both of those sites and so far only had one or two that I wasn't really fond of. I'm pretty simple when it comes to snacks, but I generally lean towards things that have protein in…

Short answer: Yes. Long answer: Doing strength training while eating at a deficit will help you retain more of your lean mass (muscles and other non-fat stuff). Technically, the scale will generally not go down as quickly as if you were doing pure cardio, but you will lose a larger percentage of fat vs. muscle, and…

New Rules of Lifting for Women. It's $12 on Amazon and a great introductory book for women who are unfamiliar with lifting. It's a six month long program that's divided into seven stages, each comprising a different set of exercises.

Height: 5'6" SW: 175 CW: 162 GW: 130ish My macros are set at 40/30/30, I eat 1800-2000 calories a day, and I generally get 120-150 g of protein a day. My goal is to lose a significant amount of body fat (don't know my BF%, but it's higher than I'd like) while maintaining my lean mass. I'm currently only doing Stage 1 of…

You beat me to it :)

When most people say they want to "tone," what they essentially mean is that they want to maintain muscle mass while decreasing their body fat %. This is usually accomplished most efficiently by lifting heavy and eating slightly below maintenance calories. Building muscle can only be done by eating at a calorie surplus and…

I generally eat about 5 times a day. Not because I believe any of that junk about keeping your metabolic fire stoked or whatever (Intermittent Fasting has pretty much proved that wrong), but just because it works out well with my schedule. I work from 1:00pm-9:30pm, so I have breakfast around 8:30-9:00am, lunch around…

I have days like that too. IIFYM eating keeps me sane. I tend to eat decently a good chunk of the time, but sometimes I really want a BBQ pork mac and cheese from Noodles & Co. Mmm. Or something else equally "dirty." Even so, I generally do really well with meeting my macros in the end. Some days my sodium ends up being a…

If I'm crazy hungry at night, I find that a 1/2 cup of cottage cheese helps a lot. It makes you feel fuller longer than a bunch of quickly digested carbs.

I own this rice cooker too and it is the easiest thing ever to use. Chuck in some rice, fill to the appropriate line with water, push the switch, and it will automatically turn off when it's done. I haven't used Uncle Ben rice myself, but I'm willing to bet that a bag of normal brown rice is cheaper.

Less fast food, more protein and fiber. More calories probably wouldn't hurt either. Try incorporating things like edamame, chicken breast, whole grain breads, brown rice, old fashioned or steel cut oatmeal, cottage cheese, salmon, eggs, low GI veggies and fruit, peanut butter, avocados. You don't have to get rid of…

If you like the NROL4W program, I hear NROL Supercharged is pretty good. Much more customizable than NROL4W as well, so you could work around exercises that aggravate your back.

I second New Rules of Lifting for Women. You can get the book on Amazon for a little over $12. It's a six month program that is divided into 7 stages, each stage being a different group of workouts. It starts you off slow and steady so that you can really learn the form for each workout before you pile on the weights. I…

Without any details, my guess would be either you're not lifting heavy enough/not lifting free weights (free weights >>> machine weights) and/or you're likely not eating enough protein to gain muscle (as in 1 g of protein for each lb. that you weigh). Look into New Rules of Lifting for Women or Starting Strength or…

Fair warning, you may want to mix the protein powder in some milk before you add it to the oatmeal. Whey tends gets kinda weird and grainy when you mix it directly into hot stuff - I tried it once, and it was not pleasant.

Starting Strength is a good beginner lifting program. This (http://startingstrength.wikia.com/wiki/FAQ:Introduction) is the wiki, but there's also a book associated with it. With this program you do a total of 5 different lifts, lifting 3 days a week, alternating workouts every lift day. As for cardio, the program suggests…

BMR is Basal Metabolic Rate. This is the number of calories you would use if you were in a coma. Unless you are quite obese, you should not be eating less calories than your BMR. In order to lose weight, you should eat about 15-20% below your TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure), which is much higher than your BMR. This…

I hate to repeat what you've been told, but you're 19 years old and really need to eat more. You are generally making healthy choices, but 700-900 calories a day is not enough for someone your age. If you're really struggling to eat more, try adding in healthy foods that are high-calorie, such as nuts, guacamole, natural…

If you want super low calorie: celery. If you want something that will hold you over until dinner: nonfat Greek yogurt, lowfat cottage cheese, hard boiled egg, or anything high in protein.

Without knowing your body fat percentage, it's difficult to say what your maintenance level is for calorie intake, but since you are an active 19 year old, I suspect that the 1000-1300 calories you are eating is far too low. Check out this link (http://www.fat2fitradio.com/tools/bmr/) to help you find a starting point for…

If you want to change your macro goals, go to 'My Home' tab, click on 'Goals', click on the 'Change Goals' button. select 'Custom' and then click the 'Continue' button. From there you can manually change your macros to the percentages you want. Frankly, I think that MFP sets protein far too low, so definitely increase that…

My current addiction is the Jasmine Dragon Phoenix Pearls (a green tea) from Teavana, with slightly less than a teaspoon of the German rock sugar Teavana sells. I make 16 oz every day and take it to work with me. The rock sugar adds just a hint of sweetness to the tea without overpowering the jasmine flavor. It's my…